Vintage Bronze Bow Roller on 2040-parts.com

CAR's review of 2009: the cars that die

It’s been out with the old for a host of models in 2009, some provoking misty-eyed fond farewells, some told not to let the factory door hit them on the bumper on the way out. We pick the saddest and happiest goodbyes of the year. A sculpted drop-top with rear-wheel drive and a frantically schizophrenic VTEC engine.  What’s not to like?

Ferrari 458 Italia Spider leaks out. Probably.

Ferrari 458 Italia Spider leaks out - probably It’s only a couple of weeks since we reported that Ferrari would be taking the convertible 458 to Frankfurt, and now we have a set of three leaked photos of the Ferrari 458 Italia Spider in all its glory, doubtless leaked out from a magazine printers. We’re not completely convinced the photos of the 458 Spider are real – they seem familiar somehow and could be good Photoshops – but if they are real there’s no doubt Ferrari won’t be amused – as Italians seldom are under these circumstances. But assuming the photos are real they just tell us what we already know – the 458 Spider is the regular 458 Italia with its roof chopped off.

Next generation MINI Countryman to arrive in 2016

The next generation MINI Countryman to arrive in 2016 (current model pictured) We’ve recently had the arrival of the all new MINI, and the next year or so will see the roll-out of a succession of takes on the new MINI. But that process of building a MINI for every possible niche won’t complete until the MINI Countryman (and its coupe sibling, the MINI Paceman) are replaced. That now looks likely to happen in 2016 as, according to Automotive News, BMW is to end production of the MINI Countryman and Paceman at Magna Steyr in Austria in 2016 and move production of the Countryman and Paceman to Oxford and the new MINI Plant in the Netherlands.